Color Change In Culture

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INTRODUCTION Why is the red color in the stop sign and why does green mean "go"? Why does the bride wear white, and black is the color of mourning and sadness? Why does an optimist see the world in bright colors and a romantic person pursues the "blue dream"? This work discusses color and its place in culture. A lot of things in the reality surrounding us we perceive by means of colors and through them. Color terms bear in themselves much more information than it might seem at first glance. Understanding and insight into the world happens primarily by means of perception. Color also has a significant effect on the physical and emotional state of a person. This fact turns color into a culture-forming factor and an important part of one's conceptual…show more content…
One of them (Goddard 1989) suggested to complement the list of universal semantic primitives with the concept LIKE (same as). On this basis, interpretation of color terms can be paraphrased as follows: X is red - the color of Х is like the color of blood X blue - the color of Х is the same as the color of sky” (Wierzbicka 1992:358-359). Analyzing the studies by Kay, Mc Daniel et al., one might think that the essence of focal colors reflects certain psychological aspects and mechanisms of human perception. Other explanations connect focal colors with certain universal phenomena such as day and night (black and white), the sun (yellow), vegetation (green), the sky (blue), ground (brown), fire (red) (Wierzbicka…show more content…
In Old-Slavic folk tales, for example, the skin, eyes and teeth of witches, devils and mermaid were red. Red hair is often associated with hot temper and in Medieval Europe was considered to be a sign of witches. Hats of fairies are traditionally red. The red color acts as a guardian. Thus, for example, mothers tied a red thread on their child’s arm to protect them from diseases and evil eyes. A magic circle in the middle of which no evil could penetrate and cause harm to humans was painted with a red paint. Also, people used the items of red color as a means of protection against snakes, wolves, insects, mice and moles (Zabozlaeva 1996: 45). Red as a symbol of shame and disgrace In Puritan New England of the 17th-18th centuries, a woman convicted of an illicit relationship had to wear clothes with the red letter "A" on it, which stands for adultery. And in areas where there are pubs, there is still a custom to hang red lanterns, which is a hint of intimacy and prostitution; that is why such places are in red light districts. The symbolism of the red color in everyday

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